Northwestern wins to set up showdown next week with Carol City for playoff berth

The muddled mess, also known as the District 16-6A playoff race, got a little clearer on Saturday night.

Northwestern and Norland squared off at Traz Powell Stadium in what basically amounted to a playoff game, with the loser facing postseason elimination.

And when it was over, it was the Bulls who survived with a 16-8 victory at Traz Powell Stadium, setting up another big showdown contest against Carol City next week in which the winner will secure a playoff berth and the loser will be eliminated.

Central, which is done with its district play, finishing 3-1, clinched a playoff spot on Saturday night and will either finish first or second depending on who wins the NW/Carol City game.

But it wasn’t easy for the Bulls – not even close.

With the game seemingly wrapped up, Northwestern (4-4, 2-1) botched a kneeldown at midfield with 38 seconds left, fumbling the ball away and giving Norland a second chance. The Bulls then survived a controversial finish when the clock ran out on the Vikings on the Bulls’ 25 and Norland still with a timeout in its pocket.

“A big win for this team [Saturday],” Northwestern coach Max Edwards said. “The kids worked hard all week during practice, and we knew we had to have this to keep our playoff hopes alive. Now, we’ve got Carol City and we’re treating every week like it’s a playoff game.”

Edwards and the Bulls wound up having to work a lot harder than they should have.

After a Vikings pass fell incomplete at midfield with 38 seconds left and Norland with only one timeout, a couple of kneeldowns would’ve done the trick.

But the snap was botched and the Vikings (4-4, 1-2) recovered the loose ball. Two completed passes by Norland got the ball to the 25, the second one to Aubrey Carr with 6.6 seconds left for a first down which momentarily stopped the clock to set the chains.

Norland coach Darryle Heidleburg instructed quarterback Rodrick Robinson to clock the ball in order to save his timeout.

But when the chains were set, the clock started running, and when Robinson was pressured into an incompletion on the next play, there was no time left.

Confusion reigned. Heidleburg argued vehemently that his team had clocked the ball but the head referee explained to him that before the ball was snapped, the chains were not set yet and did not allow the clock play and instructed the quarterback that he was starting the clock on the ready whistle.

“Our mentality as a unit is just go out there and do whatever it takes,” said Bulls defensive end Demetrius Taylor who had two sacks and a bushel of big plays for his unit. “Bad things happen sometimes so when the kneeldown got messed up, we just said ‘let’s just go do it again.’ We really wanted this bad [Saturday night].”

The Bulls led 9-0 at the half and then built it to 16-0 when they put together their best drive of the night to open the third quarter going 67 yards in nine plays, Kai Henry scoring from seven yards out.

Related stories from Miami Herald

The Vikings struggled offensively for a good portion of the night but answered Henry’s touchdown with a 75 yard drive culminating with a 2 yard quarterback sneak by Robinson and subsequent two-point pass to cut the Bulls lead in half.

Before its final desperation drive, Norland flirted twice with the red zone, reaching the NW 26 and 31 only to be turned away on downs both times.

“Football is a game where the bounces work funny ways and it just happened to bounce our way,” said Edwards. “God was smiling on the Bulls. We played a fine Norland team that battled just as hard as us and it could’ve gone either way and fortunately it went ours.”